Invoice Ninja vs InvoiceShelf
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted budgeting & finance options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Invoice Ninja
Open-source invoicing and billing platform
VS
InvoiceShelf
Open-source invoicing app for freelancers and small businesses
| Feature | Invoice Ninja | InvoiceShelf |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 85 · Excellent |
| Category | Budgeting & Finance | Budgeting & Finance |
| License | Elastic-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 10,106 | ★ 1,834 |
| First released | 2014 | 2023 |
| Replaces | FreshBooks, QuickBooks | FreshBooks, Wave |
What are Invoice Ninja and InvoiceShelf?
Invoice Ninja
Invoice Ninja is a free, open-source platform for invoicing, billing, payments, and time tracking. It serves freelancers and small businesses with quotes, recurring invoices, and client portals.
- Invoices, quotes, and payments
- Client self-service portal
- Time and expense tracking
- Recurring billing automation
InvoiceShelf
InvoiceShelf is an open-source invoicing application, forked from Crater, for creating invoices and estimates and tracking payments. Built with PHP (Laravel), it supports multiple companies, taxes, and customer management.
- Invoices and estimates
- Payment tracking
- Multi-company support
- Tax configuration
Invoice Ninja vs InvoiceShelf: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — Elastic-2.0 for Invoice Ninja versus AGPL-3.0 for InvoiceShelf. Invoice Ninja is the more established project (first released 2014), while InvoiceShelf arrived in 2023. Invoice Ninja has the considerably larger community, at 10,106 GitHub stars versus 1,834.
Why pick each one
Choose Invoice Ninja if…
- Comprehensive billing features
- Many payment gateway integrations
Watch out for
- License not OSI-approved
- Setup can be involved
Choose InvoiceShelf if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Invoice Ninja or InvoiceShelf better?
Neither is universally better. Invoice Ninja has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Invoice Ninja and InvoiceShelf free and open-source?
Yes. Invoice Ninja is licensed under Elastic-2.0 and InvoiceShelf under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Invoice Ninja and InvoiceShelf with Docker?
Invoice Ninja: yes. InvoiceShelf: yes.